There are things I like about pellet stoves, there are things I don't like about pellet stoves.
I like their flexible nature in that I can push a button to turn them on or off. With a wood or coal stove, once you light it you're pretty much stuck with it until it burns out. I also like how clean they are. A typical bag of pellets (40 pounds) leaves you with about a cup of ash. And you don't have to worry nearly as much about the creosoting problems you can get with a wood stove. The fuel is also easier to deal with. No cutting, splitting, stacking, etc. They're also fill and forget. As long as there are pellets in the hopper, you can walk away from them. Depending on the hopper size, you can walk away from them for as long as 3 days depending on the setting.
I don't like the fact that they don't really give you a wood fire appearance. I'ts more of a blow torch look due to the forced draft.
I'd love to have an actual fireplace because nothing beats the ambiance of a wood fire. But, I don't have a fireplace, I don't have a chimney, and I don't have any room to actually stack wood. Your wood pile is larger than my backyard.